I'm sure everyone's read the survey, or at least seen the headline, 'iPhone users have more sex' or 'iSlut'… It goes without saying that the survey is a little informal. It was published on free online dating site OkCupid's blog, OkTrends yesterday, and has been generating a phenomenal amount of buzz. The statistics in it are not that significant, unless put in the proper context. Here is a summary of the stats, quoted from the Times' article "iPhone users have more sex" (linked above):

"The accompanying graph shows male iPhone users have had an average of 10 sexual partners by age 30, while BlackBerry users have had 8.1. What's worse? Those poor losers with Androids have only had 6. The best news may be for female iPhone users who have an average of 12.3 sexual partners by age 30, as compared with 8.8 for BlackBerry users and 6.1 for Android users."

Is it significant that iPhone users apparently have had more sexual partners? I don't think so. The significance lies in another context of the statistics; the gender statistics. Did you notice that women had more sexual partners than men by the age of 30? I think this speaks volumes for equality. I'm not suggesting that this tiny survey is akin to women getting the right to vote or anything, but I think it's great that women are feeling comfortable enough to engage in a healthy amount of sexual activity, and to share that fact.

Also, I'd like to see a comparison between the users on dating sites, in terms of sexual partners, and the non-users. Do people on dating sites have more partners? I'll be willing to guess they do. That's not a condemnation of dating sites, or the people that go on them. That would be so hypocritical of me, considering I've used dating sites to a fair degree over the past few years. To hell with the social stigma of dating sites. I've met a lot of interesting people through them (after weeding through a lot of uninteresting people). That's a discussion for another time (oh, you know, next week :P).

There is an issue with a survey like this: honesty. Are these numbers accurate? How do we know a lot of people didn't downplay their numbers? How do we know people didn't exaggerate their numbers? We don't. Still, this survey was an interesting one, and it's worth reading over the article.

What's your opinion of dating sites? Do you think the fact iPhone users have more sexual partners in this survey is significant? Do you think the numbers are high or low for a person at 30 years old?